


We'll Have Each Other to Hold

by dramabeansoup



Series: Forever Like That [1]
Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Miscommunication, Multi, Sick Fic, i have no self control ok, snuggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-07-19 17:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7371394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dramabeansoup/pseuds/dramabeansoup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merritt had just intended to eat soup and watch tv. Isn't that what you did on snow days? He certainly wasn't expecting his day to turn out like this. </p><p>Or</p><p>Jack is sick, Merritt is confused, and Danny and Henley are fed up with playing the waiting game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Have Each Other to Hold

Merritt McKinney hated the snow. He hadn't always; he figured it had something to do with going bald. When you required three hats to keep your head even slightly warm, it put a damper on how much you were allowed to enjoy the snow. Now he always came home with a chilled head and frozen ears.

It was New York's first big cold snap of the year, and it was practically blizzard conditions. Merritt had stepped out of his apartment for a little bit; the Horsemen had decided- actually Henley had decided- that they were going to put off working on the show until the snow had a chance to stop coming down so hard. That had been four days ago.

He had been going absolutely stir crazy. His apartment was pretty tiny in the first place; being confined to it for such a long time with nothing to do had left him climbing the walls in restless frustration. So he had set out for the bakery down the block; they did an amazing chicken noodle soup, so after wandering the block a little and then buying two quarts and a couple of sourdough rolls, he set off at a brisk pace for his apartment.

At least he didn't seem to be the only one suffering from cabin fever; everyone he dodged on the sidewalk was wrapped up in big coats and scarves, hurrying from store front to store front in an effort to keep the cold at bay as long as possible.

Entering his building, he stomped his feet a couple of times to dislodge the dirty snow clinging to his boots, before charging up the stairs. When he finally wrestled his door open on its rusty hinges, he spied a figure laying on the couch.

“Yo, Jack, what’s up man?” He recognized the leather jacket, and the shoes. “I would be very much obliged if you could get your nasty shoes off of my already disgusting couch, thank you. I paid no money for that thing.”

There was no response from the lump.

Merritt rolled his eyes with a huff as he managed to finally wrestle off his coat and damp boots. Whatever. The kid could keep ignoring him while he got a bowl for his soup.

Just as Merritt pulled down a chipped mug, there came a truly fantastic coughing fit from the couch.

The first few wracking coughs were dry, the kind of thing you get when you haven’t had water for awhile and forget how to swallow. A few moments in, they changed in sound and became deeper, painful sounding and wet. After a few seconds they faded off with a deep, wheezing rattle.

 _That doesn’t sound very good_ , Merritt thought. He set the cup down with a thunk, then went to peer over the back of the couch. Jack had curled in on himself, but didn’t seem to actually be awake.

“Jack?” He prodded the kid’s shoulder, then a little harder when he didn’t respond. “C’mon kid, it’s time to get up. Wakey wakey.”

“No,” came the muffled moan. “Just a few more minutes, officer, then I promise I’ll move,” the mutters faded out into a slight wheezing huff.

 _Ok, what?_ Merritt shook his head. Of all things for a sick person to say…

Well.

As concerning as Jack's sleep-mumbles seemed to be, first things first; the kid needed to get out of those clothes. Leather jackets were not meant for sick people. That was what sweatpants and t-shirts were for.

He came around to the front of the couch and slid an arm under Jack’s stomach, meaning to pull him upright. He encountered a troubling problem, however.

“Holy crap, man, you’re freezing! And wet! What have you been doing?” A suspicion was forming in Merritt’s mind; he didn’t like where the signs were pointing.

Jack blinked his eyes open.

“Merritt? What’s…” He broke off with another coughing fit, curling in tight. When he finally straightened back out again, he looked up at Merritt with glazed, fever-bright eyes.

“I don’t feel so good,” he groaned.

“Yeah I gathered that. Think you can get out of those clothes for me?” Merritt was a little worried about how cold the kid looked. He was trying to hide it, but the shivers were few and far between; a fact that was more concerning than if he had been shaking violently.

“Why, Merritt! You haven’t even bought me dinner yet!” Jack tried for a flirtatious grin, but something caught in his throat and a few moments later he was gasping for breath after another coughing fit.

"I have soup, some of which you'll be getting after we get you out of those wet clothes," Merritt played it cool, raising an eyebrow, but inside he was almost panicking. This time when Jack looked back over at him, he could see fear in the kid’s eyes. Then his breathing changed from _can't get a full breath in_ to _panic attack._

Merritt wanted to hit himself over the head for it, but he could only feel relief at that. One of his kid sisters used to get these all the time; he could handle this. It had been drilled into his head by his mother. _You get her calm, and you help her regulate her breathing._ Same thing applied here.

He hauled Jack up on the couch, sliding next to him and pulling Jack’s hand to rest over his diaphragm. He was careful not to jostle him too much and set off another coughing fit. That was the last thing they needed.

“Breathe with me, Jack, come on. It’s gonna be ok. Come on, Jack, in… And out…. There you go. Again.” After a few minutes Jack’s breathing settled back into the still-worrisome wheezing rattle, but at least it was a regular intake of air instead of panicked gasps.

The kid was nearly asleep again when he said, “Can I just stay here for a few days? Just until I feel a little bit better? I promise I won’t get in the way.”

Well wasn’t that just a kick in the head.

“Of course, Jack. However long you need.” Get in the way? He could never be in the way. Everyone loved Jack. The kid slumped over curling into Merritt as if looking for warmth.

 _That’s it._ It was time to call in the reinforcements. He laid Jack back down on the couch, pulling a blanket down over him as he slid his cell out of his pocket and dialed a familiar number.

“Hey, Danny. Yeah, I know, we weren’t going to get together again until it stopped snowing, but I think we have something of an emergency situation on our hands. I’m pretty sure Jack has been living on the streets.”

He gets Jack showered and gets him some soup. By the time he's dosed him with cough medicine and stacked every blanket he could find in the apartment on him, the kid is dozing off even as he tries to blink awake. A knock at the door interrupts Merritt as he's thinking about trying to get a pair of socks onto his feet.

Danny and Henley look like they haven't been awake very long. Henley has a pillow crease on her cheek and Danny looks a little dazed, like he's still half-asleep. They must have been together.

“Sorry to interrupt date night. But it is somewhat of an emergency.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny says, bouncing impatiently on the balls of his feet. “Are you gonna let us in or not?”

Henley heads straight for the bedroom, where they can all hear Jack coughing. Danny follows at a more reasonable pace, but Merritt knows him. He’s worried too. The coughing sounds really painful.

Henley stops dead at the door. “Oh,” she says lamely.

“What?” Danny tries to peer over her shoulder. Then Henley moves aside. “Oh.”

“What? _What?_ ” Merritt’s a little worried. Did the kid pass out? Is he not breathing? What’s wrong? But no, he’s still propped against all the pillows Merritt could find, buried under ten blankets. He’s dozing, but obviously doing ok. Well, better.

“I didn’t know you knew how to look after a sick person, well done.” Danny says it with sarcasm, but there is a tone of surprise under it.

“You know, I do have four younger brothers and sisters. Kids do get sick,” Merritt points out.

“No I did not know that,” Danny snaps back. Henley is already at Jack's side, putting a hand to his cheek and brushing his hair out of his face.

“Has he eaten anything?” She asks.

“He managed to get down a little soup, and some water. And he showered, he was sopping wet when he came in.” Merritt had figured the steam couldn’t hurt that cough any. The fact that Jack could barely stand up straight had made things difficult though.

Jack shifts a little, blinking his eyes open.

“Hey,” he croaks. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Merritt called us,” Danny says, stepping forward. Jack reaches out to him, and though Danny is all bluster on the outside, and doesn't always know how to be polite, he is kind. He takes Jack’s hand gently, even though he’s nearly yelling at him about how he _can’t do anything halfway, can you Wilder_ , and Jack smiles at him fondly while Henley rolls her eyes. If Merritt stays much longer, he’s probably going to witness much more sap than he should, so this is his cue to leave.

He’s got two mugs of coffee and a hot chocolate ready to go by the time they join him in the living room a few minutes later.

“He go to sleep?” Merritt asks.

“Yes,” Henley says with a knowing smile. “You drugged him, didn’t you?”

Merritt grimaces. “I don’t think he’s eaten very much in the last few days. That plus the exhaustion, it only took a little cough syrup in his tea to get him to pass out.”

This sobers the room up pretty quickly. This is Jack. Their Jack. Sweet, mischievous, smiling Jack Wilder, who has most likely been living on the streets during the first real blizzard of the year.

“Did you get anything out of him at all?” Danny asks, sipping at his hot chocolate. He says the caffeine in coffee makes it hard for him to concentrate. Henley, on the other hand, likes her coffee black. She smiles at him for remembering.

Merritt sighs. “I did. He was a little out of it, and I may have taken advantage of it. He says that most of the time he does fine, sleeps in shelters and the like, but since the storm hit the shelters have been completely full. They try to take in as many as they can, but sometimes they have to shut their doors.” What Jack had actually said had been something along the lines of there are other people who need the space more than I do. I should’ve been fine. “But he said one thing led to another, and he was in the neighborhood so he might as well drop by. He’s been feeling pretty bad since yesterday but he woke up this morning feeling awful.”

Henley nods, looking like she’s about to cry. “He’ll move in with one of us, for sure,” and it’s not really a suggestion as much as it’s a _or so help me you will all suffer_. The boys just nod.

“He could move in with you,” Merritt says, nodding at Danny. “That way you three could hang out more often.” There was something brewing between those three, and close proximity would probably help them figure things out.

“Or he could move in with you,” Henley suggests. Danny looks like he’s considering it.

Merritt laughs. They don’t. “Guys, are you serious? I have a one-bedroom tiny apartment. I don’t think Jack wants to sleep on the couch for the next eight months.” It really was a pretty bad couch.

“Why do you do that?” Danny muses. Henley's looking at Merritt with narrowed eyes, like she's trying to figure him out. He knows she doesn't do mentalism, but the girl can be scary insightful sometimes. It's a good thing Merritt has genuinely no clue what the sudden shift in conversation means.

“Do what?” Merritt asks, brow furrowing.

“Push us away. Pretend like you don’t know what’s going on here.” Danny looks agitated now, as if there is a problem he knows how to fix but just can’t. Henley is rubbing her hand on his arm, trying to calm him down. Merritt looks on in curiosity.

“Guys we see each other almost every day. How it that in any way pushing you away?” Merritt tries to think back on any times where he told them he couldn’t hang out. Have there been any? Do they think he’s trying to go solo on them, like he did to his brother? Because he wouldn’t.

“I’m not trying to ditch you guys if that’s what you mean,” he says, affronted.

“ _No!_ ” Danny says, and he’s on his feet now, stepping closer. Merritt rises from the chair, crossing his arms and waiting.

“I’m really not sure I know what you’re talking about,” Merritt says, as calmly as he can.

“I really think you do,” Danny grits out.

They are standing too close now, Danny’s face inches from Merritt’s own, and this is something that has been building for months now. Henley stands off to the side, shifting from foot to foot. Merritt just shakes his head in confusion.

“I don't know why you do it,” Danny snarls. He’s got a light in his eye not unlike the one he gets when he’s pulling off a particularly good trick. “Do you think you aren’t good enough? Does it have something to do with us?” He raises his eyebrows, waiting.

“I-" Merritt has no idea where this is going, or when it went so off track in the first place. He opens his mouth to ask _what the hell_ , but Danny steamrolls right over any protests Merritt would have made.

“Why do you do it? Why do you keep pushing us together, pushing us away from you? You were picked to be a part of the Horsemen just like the rest of us. When are you going to start feeling like you belong?” And oh. _Oh_. So that’s what this is about.

The other three, they’ve been dancing around each other for months. Little touches, glances, smiles. They hadn’t been hiding it, for some reason, and Merritt had thought that they just didn’t care if he knew. But now…

“Wait, _what?_ ” This is… What does he even mean? He couldn’t possibly… _what?_ Merritt fumbles behind him for the couch and sits down hard.

“You know, for a mentalist, you sure can be pretty bad at reading people sometimes,” Henley rolls her eyes. Then she steps forward and kneels down in front of him. “Did you really think that we didn’t want you with us?” And Merritt is floored, absolutely dumbfounded, because they have been dancing around each other for months, and what they’ve really been doing is waiting on him?

Henley is smiling slightly, now, and Danny is looking over her shoulder expectantly. He sees the moment that they realize he has understood, and Henley’s face softens before she leans forward and presses a chaste kiss to his lips.

“I– Oh.” Merritt brings a hand up, and it’s trembling slightly as he brushes some of her hair over her shoulder. “But… I’m old. You guys shouldn’t want someone like me. I’m just… A nobody.”

“ _No,_ ” Danny grits out. “No, you don’t get to tell us what we do and don’t want. Not now, not ever. This is our choice.” And with that declaration, Danny pushes Henley out of the way and _kisses Merritt right on the mouth._

Danny doesn’t give an inch, even in this, and it’s all Merritt can do to keep up with him. When they finally break for air, Henley laughs at Merritt’s stunned expression.

“Control freak,” he mutters under his breath. Danny just grins smugly.

"I can't believe you didn't see this coming," Henley says. "Aren't you supposed to be the best mentalist in the world?"

Merritt is slightly offended. "You know I promised not to use that on you except in emergencies!"

"This isn't even mentalism!" Danny protests. "It's simple human interaction!" Merritt wants to tell him that that's probably why, he's always been good at reading people, but _reading_ people is a skill that he never seemed to grasp, but Danny's already pressing another kiss to his cheek and Henley is burrowing into his side, and really, who is Merritt to argue while he's got this?

" _Finally_ ," comes the croak from the doorway to the bedroom. Everybody turns their head, and there stands Jack, with a spectacular case of bed head, and three blankets wrapped around his shoulders. He shuffles over to the couch and flops down across all of their laps, wriggling around until his head in on Henley's lap and Merritt's arm is around his waist. Danny rests his hand on his bare ankle, raising an eyebrow.

"Is there a reason you're out of bed right now?" He asks.

"I came to get water," Jack huffs, "and then I saw that we finally got blockhead here to get with the program," He nudges Merritt with his elbow.

"Hey!" Merritt protests.

"Be nice," Henley flicks Jack gently on the ear. "He didn't even know."

Jack struggles onto his back and peers blearily at Merritt. "Seriously?" And that, that right there, Jack must have learned that eyebrow thing from Danny, and oh no, Merritt is _so screwed_. He smiles helplessly at Jack, and something must show in his face, because Jack's relaxes into an easy grin, and he pulls Merritt's hand up to his heart. He starts dozing almost immediately.

"We should put him back to bed," Henley whispers. Merritt nods, carefully scooping the kid up, and Jesus, he weighs nothing. They're going to have to work on that. Danny gets a huge glass of water from the kitchen, following them into the bedroom.

Merritt means to just settle Jack under the blankets and back away, but Jack latches on like an octopus and drags him down.

"Stay," he mumbles.

"Can I at least take my shoes off?" Merritt drawls.

"I suppose," Jack sniffs imperiously. The effect of dignity is somewhat ruined by the snot clogging his nose and the fact that he has to cough a few times before he can get his breath back. Merritt starts to struggle around, but Henley is already pulling off the tennis shoes that he'd put on to walk around the house earlier.

Merritt wants to say thanks, but his throat is suspiciously tight all of a sudden, and instead he clears his throat. Henley seems to understand, because she just smiles at him gently. Jack curls into him, fitting his head under Merritt's chin, and Henley climbs in behind Jack, reaching over to put her hand on Merritt's hip.

"Oh, goody, nap time," Danny grumbles as he walks in, but he's smiling slightly as he puts the water down and settles in behind Merritt. He pushes his forehead into his neck and slots a leg between Merritt's.

Later, Merritt will wake up sweating, but Jack's fever will have broken and everyone will be sleeping, Jack snoring through his clogged nose. That evening, Danny will bully Jack into going to bed early, and the kid will pout at Merritt until he tucks him in. Henley will smile at them all fondly. It's not the boring day that Merritt thought he was going to have, and they still have to talk about Jack's problem, as well as tell him off for not coming to any of them sooner, but Merritt can't help but think that it's the best day he's had in a very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written this much for something that wasn't a research paper. Wow. Hope you guys enjoy!


End file.
